The status of insurance of at least 62% of registered vehicles in Delhi is ‘unknown,’ a preliminary report prepared by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has found

Vehicles move slowly at a traffic intersection after the end of a two-week experiment to reduce the number of cars to fight pollution in in New Delhi.(AP FIle Photo)

The status of insurance of at least 62% of registered vehicles in Delhi is ‘unknown,’ a preliminary report prepared by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has found.

The finding of the Central government-run NIC came to light after it compiled data by tallying registered vehicles in the National Capital with their corresponding insurance policies. In a series of communications between Delhi’s transport department, the ministry of road transport and highways (MORTH), the General Insurance Council and the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB), the NIC flagged this issue to be the gravest in the National Capital.

“In Delhi, the gap is the widest. Of 72 lakh vehicles with valid registration, only around 30 lakh insurance policies are available with us, including the records of the new vehicles whose insurance information is recorded at the time of registration. There is a gap of 42 lakh vehicles whose insurance status is unknown (either uninsured, or not received in Vahan),” read a communication sent by NIC on September 5 to the secretary general of GIC and other stakeholders.

An insurance coverage is mandatory according to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Driving without insurance could lead to a fine of up to Rs 1,000 or imprisonment up to three months or both. Last year, the ministry of road transport and highways, on the directions of the Supreme Court, had issued directions to collect data of all registered vehicles along with their insurance numbers. The move was aimed to help road accident victims claim compensation as well as to facilitate the police in issuing fines to uninsured vehicles directly from the operations and command centres.

Officials in the transport department said the gap in uninsured vehicles could be for two reasons.

“There are certainly going to be cases where vehicles are not insured. But, in some cases, there is also a possibility that the insurance companies have not compiled their data properly,” a senior transport official said.

Following the gap, the NIC said it has written to all insurance companies to correct their data and send it along again. “Unlike other states, where numbers start from 01 to 99, registration numbers in Delhi are unique. They start from 1 and not 0. But, many insurance companies themselves have added 0 to the vehicle numbers in Delhi. Since it is the first time such data linking process is being carried out across the country, these problems are bound to occur,” an NIC official handling the project said.

The transport department explained that while Delhi has over 10 million registered vehicles, NIC’s figure of 72 lakh accounts for those vehicles whose registration certificates have not yet expired and those that have valid fitness certificates.